New Ceramic Tile, with a Curved Edge???

I recently bought a house and newly tiled the kitchen floor. I demo'd out the old linoleum and 1/8" luan, laid new 1/2" cement board, on top of the sub floor, laid tile. Floor looks great except....

The living room buts up to the kitchen where the new tile is. It is a sunken living room with about a 6' drop. The step is not a straight step, the step is on a radius, or curve. From end to end, it is about 12' and the curve raises about 11" at it's peak. It is a subtle curve, but a curve none-the-less.

Guys at the tile shop told me NOT to use the schluter for curved edge due to it being a high traffic area, and the grout will crumble when people step on it. They also said there is no way to finish the face of the step without tiling that. So I laid the tile each with a custom cut to allign with the curve. Them talking me into a plastic flexible molding that looks like crap.

The question is, is there a product such as a flexible bull nose or stair nose that I can finish this off with? There was a piece of aluminum that the old linoleum was finished with. But I foolishly threw that away and I cannot find another fit.

New Ceramic Tile, with a Curved Edge???

Hi Single Malt,

These things need to be planned for ahead of time. The guys at the corner of 19 Mile Rd. and Van Dyke (?) gave you bad advice, IMO.

You will now need to remove the last row of custom cut tiles along with the thin set under them down to clean substrate. (BTW, what did you use?) You can buy their stair tread, (the one with the Michigan outline). You will need to cut the part that does on the floor every 1/2" +- so it'll make a gentle bend. You can set it into thin set mortar and fasten to hold in place, then set the tiles again. Looks like this.

New Ceramic Tile, with a Curved Edge???

JazMan is right that you'd need to remove/replace the tile to use the edges linked to above. They would work, but if they are flexed at all, they are likely to degrade the grout joint right at the edge. This is sometimes tough to achieve when you are attaching them to a wood substrate that is, by nature, and resilient material.

One option you have, if you don't want to remove the tiles and you have the room on either end of the step, is to provide a wood edge. You can pull back or cut the carpet from the riser and provide a skirt board along the face of the riser. If you wanted to make a bullnose edge you could block out the riser, and provide a thin riser board and then top it with the nosing. Below is a section through the step with a wood nosing.

New Ceramic Tile, with a Curved Edge???

Two thoughts on your solution. It would work, termporarily, as I was told with the edge being in a high traffic area, the metal will over time become weakend hence crumbling the grout. The other thought is that the tile is already layed.

Any ideas on how I am able to finish it without tearing up that tile? I'm looking for a piece of trim that I can tack to the riser.

The solution that @joecaption proposed would work, if the floor was not curved. Cutting it every 1/2" or so, still had an excess of metal. Also, how would I handle the carpeting on the riser? Should the tiles protrued out about a 1/4" to butt the carpeting under there? Joecaption, I see you're in Troy. I'm in Sterling Heights. Care to swing by and see if we can come up with something? I'm not opposed to hiring you out to fix this.

Is it possible to tile the riser, then meet the floor and the riser somehow with a mitered edge somehow? Just trying to get some out of the box thinking here...

New Ceramic Tile, with a Curved Edge???

Quote:

Originally Posted by Single Malt

Any ideas on how I am able to finish it without tearing up that tile? I'm looking for a piece of trim that I can tack to the riser.

Am I to assume my post with the wood options was out of the question? If so, then coupled with you not wanting to remove any tile, you'll have to tile the riser and put in either a bullnose tile or metal edging along the riser edge, though I wouldn't warranty either of those lasting too long in perfect shape with heavy foot traffic...Good luck!

New Ceramic Tile, with a Curved Edge???

Sure, I'm willing to take a quick look at no charge even. Send me an IM.

People have told you that using the stair nosing made for this purpose is not recommended cuz the grout may crack. I have been using the nosing for over 15 years with no cracking that I know of. But then I do all my work.

Jaz

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